Sakura's Contemplations
by Archidel
Summary: After a brief conversation with Shion about Naruto and her feelings for him, Sakura begins to wonder just what exactly those feelings are. The words 'obsession' and 'desire' spring to mind, although for Sakura herself the most applicable word is 'denial'.
1. Reflecting on sweet buns

"I... I'm sorry," Sakura stammered; "I don't know why I got so angry." All they had been doing was have a nice friendly talk about the mission and her teammates; Neji; Rock Lee; Naruto, when suddenly a burning anger started boiling up in her she couldn't explain.

"It's alright, I understand. You just got a little jealous."

"Jealous? Of what?" Sakura shook her head. There was nothing to get jealous about. All they'd really talked about was Neji and his Byakugan, Fuzzy Brow's weird reaction to alcohol and Shion finding Naruto intriguing. No, that wasn't what she said. Interesting, that was it; she was interested in Naruto. Why would she get jealous about that?

"Well, you like him yourself, don't you?" Shion replied. "Naruto, that is."

"Yes, of course I do. He's my teammate after all, but what does that have to do with anything?"

Shion just chuckled softly. It seemed the pink-haired girl was completely oblivious to her own feelings.

"That's not quite what I meant. I know you love him, I can tell. And what's not to love? He's sweet and funny, he's spirited and passionate, and he's completely devoted to you. To all his friends, I think, but especially to you. On top of that, he has those beautiful sky-blue eyes, a smile that can make you forget all about your troubles and, uhm, well," Shion added, a blush creeping on her face; "thanks to all that ninja training, he really has a pretty amazing body as well." Leaning in a bit closer, she dropped her voice to a whisper, her face turning even redder. "Not to mention that cute little butt of his."

* * *

Sakura's mind kept drifting back to that conversation as she followed Naruto down the streets of Konoha, heading to their respective homes after handing over the reports on their latest mission to Tsunade-sama. She'd vehemently denied being in love with him of course. He was loud and obnoxious and a total knuckle-head. Not her type at all. Yeah, the idea was totally ridiculous. He was a teammate and a friend. A good friend, but nothing more. And yet... Yet that conversation kept lingering in her mind and a small voice kept screaming at her to listen.

Could it be that Shion was right? Could it be that the high priestess had seen something she wasn't even aware of herself? She liked to think that she knew herself better than that. That she knew what she felt and she'd definitely know it if she was in love. But than, why had she become so upset about Shion showing an interest in Naruto? Why was she feeling her emotions flare up even now, just thinking back about it? If Naruto was no more than a good friend to her, why would she even care about anyone else liking him? A pang of jealousy shot through her as she pictured Naruto and Shion together. Why was she feeling this way, if not because...

No, no, it was impossible. She wasn't jealous of Shion because she liked Naruto, she was just jealous because she didn't have anybody like that. There was Sasuke of course, but he had changed and so had her feelings for him. She still cared for him deeply of course, and desperately wanted to bring him back home, but she was well past the schoolgirl crush she'd had on him back when they were in team 7 together. That was all there was to it. It wasn't because she was in love with Naruto. He was way too annoying anyway.

It failed to occur to her that this whole time she'd been coming up with arguments as to why she wasn't in love with Naruto, she'd been thinking about Naruto. More specifically, she'd been thinking about what Shion had said about him. Without even realizing it, her eyes slowly drifted over Naruto's body; across his broad, masculine shoulders; along his muscular back; right down to his tight, firm...

"Uhm, Sakura-chan? Why are you staring at my butt?"

Her eyes immediately shot upwards as her face flushed a deep crimson.

"I was not, you idiot!" she yelled, turning her embarrasment at being caught into anger; "Like I'd ever do such a thing!"

Naruto instantly jumped back a few feet at Sakura's angry reaction, being all too familiar with her temper. "Ok, ok, I just thought for a moment... Uhm, never mind, it must have been my imagination. I'll uh, I'll see you tomorrow." He quickly ran off waving his teammate goodbye, not about to stick around long enough for her to decide he needed to be smacked on the head, again, for even thinking such a thing.

All Sakura could think as she watched him run off was; Shion was right, he really did have a _very_ nice butt...


	2. Not a thought on her mind

For the rest of the walk home Sakura couldn't stop thinking about the shape of her feelings for Naruto, although it might be more accurate to say that at that moment she was more preoccupied with thinking about her feelings about the shape of Naruto. She'd seen him shirtless many times over the course of the various missions they'd been on together of course and she'd even seen him in nothing more than his boxers more than once. At those times though, she was too busy being angry at him for being so improper in front of a lady to really look at him and thinking back on it, even when she tried, she couldn't quite get a clear picture in her mind of what he looked like without his clothes on.

It was right around that moment that her conscious mind caught up with her and she realized she was actively trying to picture a naked Naruto, which proved to be enough of a shock to her system that she immediately switched to desperately thinking about something else. _Anything_ else. Like how many tongue depressors the hospital had left, for example. Maybe she should go over there and count them by hand, just to make sure they had enough. What the hell had she been thinking, trying to picture Naruto like that? It was totally gross! Well, maybe not exactly gross, actually, more like... Tongue depressors. Yes, she absolutely had to make sure they had enough tongue depressors. Just to be on the safe side, maybe she should check up on the band-aids as well.

Sakura was, in fact, so caught up in NOT thinking about how ripped and lean Naruto's body had to be, in NOT thinking about how his bare skin would glisten with sweat as he was going through his rigorous work-out routine, in NOT... Well, suffice it to say that she completely failed to even notice that Ino was standing right in her path, walking straight into her.

"Neh, Sakura, what's up with you? You were completely out of it. Let me guess, you were thinking about Sasuke again, weren't you?"

"Huh, what? No, no, not Sasuke..."

"Sai than! He really does look a lot like him doesn't he? He's so mysterious too! He's kinda cute, don't you think?"

"Not really, no", Sakura mumbled sofly, just as her mind finally started to clear up a little. "Uhm, I mean, that's not at all what I was thinking about. I... I was just going to the hospital to do some inventory. Yes, that's it. Inventory!"

Ino frowned a little bit, looking incredulously at her childhood friend. "Why would you blush about that? You know what never mind. If you're going to the hospital, I'll come with you. I wanted to check out some medical books anyway."

Sakura almost sighed of relief. As annoying as Ino could sometimes be, lately they'd been getting along a lot better again and at least she'd provide a suitable distraction for her to stop thinking about Naruto.

"So, how's Naruto doing by the way? I haven't seen him in a while."

Sakura mentally face-palmed as she turned cherry-red. Why _now_ of all times did Ino have to start showing an interest in Naruto! What was it with everybody suddenly being so damned interested in him? There had always been Hinata of course, but now Shion and Ino as well? Just how many competitors did she have?

"He's fine. Just fine." Really fine. It took al she had to muster the most obviously fake smile in history. Maybe talking to Ino wasn't that great a distraction after all. "But enough about him, how are you doing?"

Much to her relief, Ino didn't bring up the subject of Naruto again the rest of the way to the hospital. Now all she had to do was focus on her work and everything would be just fine. She parted ways with Ino shortly upon entering the main lobby, Ino heading for the hospital library while she went straight to the central supply room, picking up the inventory papers on the way. Once there she vigorously started counting all of the various items, meticulously making notes on her clipboard to refill the things they were running low on. As hard as she tried to focus on the simple work though, she couldn't stop her mind from wandering.

Why couldn't she stop thinking about Naruto? Why was she thinking about him even now, as she was thinking about how she couldn't stop thinking about him? It was all too much for her. Even when she had her crush on Sasuke her mind had never been this clouded with thoughts of him as it was now with thoughts of her blonde teammate. _A smile that can make you forget all your troubles_, Shion had said. She closed her eyes and tried to think about him smiling, which wasn't hard to do, since he almost always was. Even just recalling the image made her feel all warm inside and she couldn't help but smile herself. Sky-blue eyes. Those were always smiling as well. There was always a twinkle to them; kind and warm and slightly mischievous. She loved seeing those eyes.

"Ok, what is going on with you Sakura?" Ino's voice snapped her out of her musings. "I've been standing here for at least 5 minutes and you didn't even notice me. Also, that's the third time you picked up and put back that same box of tongue depressors."


	3. Waterfall wishes

Sakura stared blankly at the box in her hands before giggling nervously and looking at Ino.

"Oops, I guess I got a bit distracted."

"I'd say... You're acting just like you used to act around Sasuke, your head all up in the clouds. If I didn't know any better I'd say you're in love, but unless you've actually fallen for Rock Lee's relentless advances, I don't see how that's possible. You've lately been spending all your time working with Tsunade-sama and Shizune, or going on missions with Kakashi-sensei and Naruto."

Sakura cursed her body as she immediately started blushing again upon hearing Naruto's name.

"Oy, you're blushing again! What's up with that? Don't tell me you're in love with Kakashi-sensei?"

Once again Sakura's face turned a bright red, although this time it was accompanied by a decidely different facial expression than she'd worn the previous times.

"Of course not, you idiot! Don't be stupid! That guy is like, old!"

"Than what the hell is with you spacing out and blushing constantly like that! You're being weird!"

"Weird? Weird! I was just thinking about Naruto!"

The words came out before she could stop them, resulting in the by now customary reaction. _Think Sakura. Think!_ "I mean, uhm, I'm worried about him. He's... He's been through a lot lately."

"Well yes, I suppose I can understand that. I'm a little bit worried about him myself. I can only imagine what it's like to have that Kyuubi inside you and those Akatsuki guys seem really strong as well."

Sakura just nodded. Now that she was thinking about it, she really was worried about Naruto. "I just feel so powerless. The only things I can do for him are so small."

Hadn't captain Yamato said something about that to her? He had told her that it wasn't the size of the things she could do for him that mattered, but her feelings for him that were important. Had he seen something as well? Had he seen the same thing Shion had seen? Something she was blind to herself? Well, if her feelings for Naruto were all that is important, maybe she had better figure out what those were exactly. That was to say, if she could manage to focus long enough to not be distracted by thoughts of Naruto washing his shirtless body under a waterfall. Than again, maybe the fact that even as she was worrying about him she could hardly seem to get rid of that particular thought was a rather serious clue in and of itself.

"Sakura? Sakura! You're zoning out again."

"Huh? Oh, sorry Ino, were you saying something?"

"I said, being worried about Naruto doesn't explain why you turn as red as a cherry every time I mention his name."

"Oh, yes, I guess it doesn't." _Damn, she got caught! _She'd never hear the end of it if Ino found out why she was blushing. "That's... That's because I'm embarassed about how little I can do for him. I'm ashamed of my own weakness." _Yes! Perfect excuse!_

"Well, that's true. You are pretty useless."

A vein in Sakura's neck started throbbing ominously, her teeth grinding together. "Useless? I'll show you useless, Ino-pig! Just wait 'til I get my hands on you!"

For the next few minutes at least, Sakura was too busy chasing Ino all over the hospital to think about Naruto much and once she'd calmed down a little again she and Ino were too busy apologizing to each other. The old rivalry was still there, though it had been tempered considerably by a newfound (or perhaps refound) mutual respect. The rest of the evening the two kunoichi spend working together finishing the inventory, doing some paperwork and checking in on Kakashi-sensei who once again had ended up in the hospital at the end of their mission. It was starting to become a habit.

"Well, I think that's everything. I'm going home, I'm getting tired. Bye Ino!"

She really was getting very tired. Being hounded by thoughts and feelings you couldn't place was exhausting. The whole way home the same questions kept spinning in her mind over and over again without her being able to find an answer. Mostly because the only answer that explained everything was just too ridiculous to be true. The fact that she couldn't find any other explanations though was more than a little bit disconcerting.

As she changed into her nightwear, she stared out the window in the direction of Naruto's simple home. She wondered what he was doing right at that moment; what he was thinking. She knew he'd had a crush on her since before they were Genin together. Did he have the same sort of thoughts about her as she'd been having about him all day long? Did he love her? Did she love him? Those questions were just too big for her weary mind. Before long she settled into a restless sleep.

The next morning she remembered nothing of the night before, not even the tiniest fragment of a dream. For some reason she was unusually sweaty though. Oh well, that wasn't anything a nice long shower couldn't fix. _With Naruto. Under a waterfall._


	4. Twice touched

Much to Sakura's distress, captain Yamato had decided that with Kakashi out of order and no missions planned for the three young shinobi under his temporary command for the next several days, they would do some training that day, coordinating their teamwork as a four man cell, which meant she'd be spending the whole day side by side with a certain blue-eyed blond. Sai would also be there of course, but she doubted that she would be able to hide behind him the whole time. Her hands went all clammy just thinking about it.

Fortunately for her, Naruto was late, a habit he'd seemed to pick up from Kakashi after training with him so much, which allowed her to focus her attention on Sai first, staying as close to him as possible, keeping him positioned between her and Naruto. For Sai this may not have been so lucky, looking rather like a stunned deer, unsure what to make of all this sudden attention from his pink-haired teammate and frantically leafing through the various books he had stowed in his backpack to find an explanation.

Suddenly the hairs on the back of Sakura's neck stood up as Sai put his hand on her inner thigh. This was quickly followed by a host of more violent reactions, not the least of which was smacking the pale-skinned boy's hand away with enough force to break the bones of most other people.

"Keep your hands of me you pervert!" She was in one of her full-on rages by now, her teeth gnashing together, her eyes squinted in anger. Poor Sai of course had no idea what he'd done wrong.

"But you like me, right? According to this book, if a girl suddenly starts paying a lot of attention to you and tries to stay in close proximity to you, it means she's probably interested in you. It also says that a good way to reciprocate that attention is to subtly touch her in an intimate fashion."

Naruto and Yamato just looked at each other bemused, while Sakura clenched and unclenched her fists several times, letting this information sink in.

"I don't like you, you knuckle-head! Didn't I tell you that you should learn such things from experience and not from books! Also, that was far from subtle and way too intimate, you little pervert!"

Sakura probably would have smacked Sai again had captain Yamato not intervened.

"Alright, that's enough you two! We'll be working on teamwork today, so get over it already. I will hide in the woodlands behind us, you will search me out and immobilize me. Sai, you provide reconnaissance and ranged support using your paintings. Naruto, you will provide close combat offense. I won't be holding back, so Sakure, you stick real close to Naruto to back him up and heal him if necessary."

Stick... close? This was turning into a very bad day indeed. Sakura gulped audibly causing the others to look strangely at her for a moment. This was just a training session after all, hardly anything to get that nervous about.

For most of the rest of the day Sakura didn't get a chance to worry about how close she was to Naruto though, as Yamato kept them pretty busy. Nonetheless, throughout the day there were moments were things quieted down and where Sakura's eyes wandered to the boy... No, the young man she had know for years but now suddenly saw through whole new eyes.

She couldn't help but notice how much taller he'd become over the years and how much more masculine; the soft, round face he'd had before leaving for his training with Jiraiya exchanged for strong, handsome features; his short, immature body for a tall, athletic frame. The only things that thankfully hadn't changed were his eyes and his smile. And perhaps the spiky blond hair on his head. It was unusual, but that rather fitted him, as he was an unusual kind of guy. That was one of the things she liked about him.

A kunai came shooting out of the bushes behind them, Sakura too lost in her thoughts to notice.

"Sakura!!!" With a mighty leap Naruto jumped on his teammate, pushing her out of the way of the kunai and landing squarely on top of her. It felt rather good. It really felt rather good to have his chest rest on hers, his legs touching hers, his solid abs...

"Naruto! What the hell do you think you're doing! Get off of me, you idiot!" Sakura angrily grabbed the blonde's arm and tossed him to her side, sending him rolling headlong into a nearby tree.

"Ouch! Why did you have to do that? I just saved you!" It seemed like every time he tried to do something nice for Sakura, his only reward was getting smacked on the head or punched in the stomach. Still, her reaction this time seemed a bit much even by her standards. Come to think about it, her behaviour had seemed off all day. She was looking in the other direction when she was supposed to be covering him, jumping out of her skin whenever they accidentally touched and she seemed even more on edge than usual. Considering she was pretty high-strung to begin with, that really didn't make this day any more enjoyable. It also made the training rather useless.

Captain Yamato apparantly came to the same conclusion as he came out of the woods shortly after.

"Ok, let's call it quits for today. This training isn't going the way it's supposed to be going anyway. Sakura, whatever is going on with you, deal with it. Your performance today was deplorable."

"Hai, captain Yamato. I'm sorry. I've... had some things on my mind, but I shouldn't have let it affect my performance."

What had been going on with her was that, no matter how hard she'd tried not to think about him or even look at him, all day long she'd been trying to peer straight through her teammate's orange and black outfit in order to discern the skin and muscles underneath. To no avail, obviously, since no matter how many skills a shinobi had, even with an ability like the Byakugan such a thing could not be done. Could it? The mere possibility of it was enough to make Sakura burn with jealousy for Hinata.

She wished she just knew what he looked like, in _that_ state, so she could stop wondering and friggin' _fantasizing_ about it already. After all, the real thing could never match her imagination, right? People always imagined their ideals, so the real Naruto could only disappoint by comparison, allowing her to finally get over this weird obsession. Right?


	5. A failure of the imagination

That settled it than. There was only one way for things to return to normal again. She had to see Naruto undressed. It wouldn't be an easy mission, mostly because of her own morals and embarassment holding her back, but she was a shinobi after all. Shinobi specialized in information gathering and surveillance, so what kind of shinobi would she be if she couldn't even sneak a peek at Naruto? It might be traumatic, but it had to be done.

She figured the best time to accomplish her mission would be late at night, just before he went to bed. She knew from previous missions he slept in his boxers when he got the room to himself, so she should be able to get a good look at him just before he hit the sack. The lights in his room would make him easy enough to see, while she'd be outside in the dark, where it would be almost impossible to spot her. Just a quick peek to put her mind at ease and she could go on with her life like she had before. She felt relieved just thinking about it.

As the evening grew later and later though, that relief slowly dissapated, being replaced by an ever building nervousness. What the hell was that about? Even if she couldn't clearly picture him anymore, it wasn't like she had never seen him in that state before. Moreover, it was just Naruto. She'd never been all that interested in that particular aspect of him, so why should she be nervous about seeing it now? Of course, such feelings have the unfortunate tendency not to listen to logic and reason all that much and so despite her protestations, with every passing minute she just grew even more nervous.

Finally the time was there. It was fully dark outside now and all over Konoha lights were being turned off as people went to bed. Jumping up to the stretch of roof running along Naruto's house, she snuck up to his bedroom window and grabbed her mirror to take a look inside. Like usual the place was a complete pigsty, littered with dirty clothes, empty ramen cups and all sorts of other things. Sometimes she thought the only things Naruto kept reasonably organized were his ninja tools. Naruto himself was nowhere to be seen though, even though she knew he had to be home, which meant he had to be in the only other room in the small, shabby appartment. Well, she could wait. She sat down on the roof, comfortably leaning against the other wall, listening for signs that Naruto had entered the bedroom.

Thirty minutes passed, then an hour... It seemed like Naruto went to bed rather late. Almost two hours later she finally heard footsteps in the room behind her. She shifted into a better position, her muscles sore from sitting on the damned roof for so long. Carefully angling the mirror she got a good look at Naruto as he walked over to his bed, still dressed in his customary orange and black outfit. That wasn't what she'd come here to see though, she was entirely familiar with that look. What she wanted to see was him without that outfit. Or any other, for that matter.

She'd have to wait for almost another 30 minutes as Naruto was clearing away a bunch of things. So, he did clean up at least a little bit. Finally though, he sat down on the bed and started taking of his sandals. Next off came the jacket. Things were about to get good. Naruto stood up again, turning his back to the window as he took of his undershirt. While still not exactly what she'd been hoping for, Sakura had to admit that from behind at least, Naruto looked pretty damned good. He then bend over, taking of his pants, nearly causing Sakura to lose her balance. _Not to mention that cute little butt_ _of his_. Shion never saw it like that though, covered in just the thin fabric of Naruto's boxershorts. It was mouth-wateringly delicious!

Finally, he straightened back up again, lazily stretching out like a cat while simultaneously turning around on his heels to face the window. The appetizers had certainly been amazing, but now it was time for the main course. For the first time, Sakura stopped to really look at Naruto, taking in every aspect of him.

_**Hell yeah!!!**_ That did it! Had she been a cartoon character, her jaw would would have dropped to the floor and her tongue would have rolled out. She still didn't know if she was in love with Naruto, but after seeing _that_, she couldn't even deny to herself anymore that she was definitely in lust. Forget about him never being able to live up to her imagined ideal! Her imagination hadn't been nearly ambitious enough!!

His super flat, tight abs, which looked solid enough to break a kunai on; his strong, perfectly proportioned chest, crowned by two equally perfect pink nipples; his broad, round shoulders and muscular, protective arms; all of it was way beyond anything Sakura ever would have or could have imagined. Her heart was racing at a million miles per hour, her mouth was salivating like crazy and her stomach was fluttering with a hunger no food could ever sate. Naruto looked like that? Had he always looked like that? She couldn't imagine not having noticed the fact that she'd been in the company of such stunning beauty this whole time. Even the way he moved was breathtaking. The way he moved, _right towards the window!_

Scrambling to get her stiff muscles to cooperate she made a mad dash around the corner of Naruto's building, leaning against the side of the building, panting heavily in exasperation. Just a few yards away, Naruto stuck his head out the window and looked around curiously.

"Is somebody there?"

"Huh, I could have sworn I heard something."

Sakura, meanwhile, could only come to one conclusion. If she had come here expecting to think less about Naruto after seeing him, she'd been thoroughly deluded. She could see his image before her without even closing her eyes, like it was burned straight into her retinas. Tonight was going to be a very long night and tomorrow... She didn't even want to think about tomorrow, because she was bound to see him again at that time and now _that_ image would be attached to him.


	6. Dreaming and dreading

Once again Sakura's sleep was less than restful. Several times during the night she'd woken up, sweating profusely again, though this time she had a pretty good idea about the why of it, disturbing her to no end. When morning finally came, it took all her strength just to open her eyes. When she finally did, she found herself looking up into a very familiar pair of blue eyes staring straight back down at her, just a few inches away.

"WAAAARRRRGHHH!!!!" Sakura screamed loudly enough to wake up half of Konoha as she kicked Naruto off of her, her heart pounding like crazy from the shock. Well, shock and a couple of other mixed emotions. She was just about ready to either start screaming her head off at Naruto or jump his bones when suddenly her entire environment shifted. Much to her confusion she was lying back in her bed, in her room, entirely alone this time. It took her a few moments to figure out that she'd just been dreaming about waking up with Naruto lying on top of her, to her simultaneous horror and delight.

As she took a shower and sat down for breakfast, she tried to clear her head. She wasn't a little girl with a silly crush anymore dammit! She was a proud kunoichi, the personal charge of Tsunade-sama herself! She could stop thinking about some silly, loud, annoying boy if she wanted to! As easy as it was to say that though, as hard it proved to be to get rid of the image that had been burned in her brain the night before. She could still see it as clearly as she'd seen it when she was actually there every time she closed her eyes. Simply remembering it made her all flustered and hot and sweaty again, so less than an hour after her first shower of the day, she decided to take another one. A very cold one this time.

What the hell was she going to do? As much as she hated to admit it; love or no love, she wanted him bad. Today was going to be another training day as well, which meant that in a little over an hour, she'd be with him again, close enough to touch. It wasn't like she could just jump him on the spot though. For one, she had a reputation to protect and secondly, despite his obvious crush on her, she had no idea how Naruto would react if she actually did something. He was, after all, the number one most unpredictable ninja in Konoha. For all she knew he would freak out completely and it would ruin their relationshi... Their friendship! That actually didn't seem like all that unlikely a possibility. No matter how much he'd hit on her, when it came right down to it, he was as inexperienced as she was. At least, as far as she knew.

He _had_ been away for over two-and-a-half years of course and he'd been in the company of that old perverted hermit. Had he been with other girls during that time? Impressing them with his Konoha forehead protector, indicating his status as a ninja? Telling them he was the pupil of one of the legendary Sannin himself? Because he was special; because he was going to become Hokage one day? Girls loved that kind of thing. She knew, because it was the reason she'd had a crush on Sasuke back then. He was a genius. He was special. Just thinking about how the town girls would've flocked around Naruto and swoon over him because he was such a powerful ninja was enough to make her blood boil.

Of course, there was nothing for her to be jealous about. Naruto being Naruto after all had been far too focused on training and getting stronger to pay much attention to girls. The girls didn't pay all that much attention to him either, since even if he was a powerful ninja travelling with one of the Sannin, he was also still the same loud, clumsy idiot he'd always been. Once you got to know him those qualities were easily outweighed by his better characteristics and might even be considered endearing, but there were only a few girls who knew him well enough for that, Sakura being one of them.

Even if Sakura might have remembered that about him on most other days however, this day she was far too busy being overwhelmed by irrational jealousy to think of such things. Jealousy. _It's alright, I understand. You just got a little jealous._ Shion again. Damn that girl. If she hadn't brought it up, Sakura never would have thought about it so much, never would have been so conflicted. Why did that stupid priestess have to put those images in her head? Why did she have to imply that she loved Naruto and was just blind to see it? Even if it was true, she was much happier being blind. It was so much less confusing.

Now, thanks to her, she was a nervous wreck. She could barely sleep nor eat and even after two showers, she was sweaty yet again. To make matters worse, the hands of the clock were relentlessly moving forward, creeping ever closer to the time she was supposed to be at the meeting point for today's training. Naruto would be there. Naruto with his beautiful eyes. Naruto with that unshakeable smile. Naruto... Once more her mind wandered back to the night before, her body shivering despite being warmer than she'd ever been. How in the world was she supposed to look at him and talk to him and act natural when she had _that_ image in her head?

Slowly and reluctantly Sakura picked up her backpack and set out to the training grounds, her heart pounding in her chest, her feet seeming to grow heavier with every step she took. _Naruto._


	7. Sexy shadows

Sakura spotted the bright orange of Naruto's outfit from some distance away, adding several more pounds of lead to her already overburdened feet. With every step she took said outfit seemed to dissolve further, growing transparant and slowly disappearing as it was being replaced by the image of a near naked Naruto that just wouldn't let go of her mind. She desperately tried to keep herself from looking at the gorgeous blonde, but her eyes seemed to have a mind of their own, staying firmly fixed on the boy. _God, he was beautiful._ Why had she never noticed that before? How could she have been so blind? Sweat beaded on her forehead and her stomach was churning as she got closer and closer to him.

By the time she'd reached the others, she was sweating like crazy, her face flushed bright red. There was no way nobody was going to notice and she _knew_ that there was no way nobody was going to notice, which only further added to her blushing and transpiring. A shinobi's feelings shouldn't be read so easily.

"Sakura-chan? Are you alright?" Naruto looked at her with concern, quickly stepping over. "You look a little hot." He gently placed his hand on her forehead, taking her temperature. "I think maybe you've got a fever."

Sakura's stomach heaved at the touch, the ball of nerves she'd been holding inside it pressing down on it. She felt like she was going to throw up. She couldn't let Naruto see her throw up! She quickly turned around, turning her back to him, the memory of his touch still lingering on her forehead. _Get a grip of yourself, you stupid girl!_ She couldn't believe the way she was acting. She was stronger than this. Better than this. She and Naruto were teammates, they had to work together. She couldn't be reduced to a trembling, quaking mess every time he touched her! She hated herself for being so weak. Pushing down her feelings as hard as she could, she turned back to Naruto, weakly smiling at him.

"I'm fine. It must have been something I ate. You don't have to worry, it's nothing I can't handle." _He was so sweet to worry about her like that._

Captain Yamato arrived shortly after, with Shino, Kiba and Akamaru in tow. Sai popped out from behind a tree. _How long had he been there?_

"Good, I see everyone's already here. Since yesterday's training didn't go particularly well, I thought that perhaps today we might as well focus on another set of ninja skills to see if you guys do any better at this. Today we'll be focusing on avoiding and evading. Shino and Kiba were kind enough to volunteer their services as the tracking team. Naruto, Sakura, Sai, you're job will be to avoid being found by them for as long as possible. You'll get a 5 minute headstart after which Shino and Kiba will come after you."

Feeling that the mission was simple enough to understand, captain Yamato decided not to waste any time.

"Oh, and your 5 minutes start... NOW!"

Slightly stunned by the lack of warning, Sakura dashed off into the woods, closely followed by Naruto and Sai. _That was sudden._ At least the shock of suddenly being plunged into this training exercise with no preparation and barely any briefing was enough to push all thoughts of Naruto aside for a little while though. Five minutes. Not much time to get away from expert trackers like Shino and Kiba. They had to move fast.

_What direction was the wind coming from?_ If they were to stand any chance of losing those two even for just a little while, they would have to stay down-wind from Kiba and Akamaru and those ridiculously sensitive noses of theirs. _West_. _That way._

"Naruto, Sai, we should head over there."

Both Sai and Naruto simply nodded in acknowledgement. Without so much of a word the three shinobi changed direction in unison, moving through the branches at terrifying speeds. Staying down-wind from their pursuers would help, but neither one of the three had any illusions that it would be enough. Those two were probably the best trackers in Konoha and Shino's bugs wouldn't be fooled by staying down-wind. Well, at least Hinata wasn't with them. With her Byakugan added to the mix it would really be impossible to lose them. For a brief moment Sakura thought about the possibility of looking right through someone's clothing with it. She shot a quick look at Naruto. _Well, she didn't really need it anymore._ Her memory and imagination were far too good at undressing him already.

This was not the time to think about such things. Even as the thought hovered in the back of her mind she became aware of the two chakras behind them, closing in on them in spite of their countermeasures.

"They're gaining on us... Sai, could you figure out exactly where Shino and Kiba are and how far they are behind us? Naruto, try to slow them down a little."

"Haii, sure thing Sakura-chan. Easy enough."

As Sai pulled out his scroll and quickly painted a whole colony of mice, sending them scattering into the forest, Naruto formed a familiar hand seal, spawned two Shadow Clones and send them back down the way they just came to stall Shino and Kiba.

_And then there were three of him._ For a brief moment a whole host of potential new applications for Naruto's Kage Bunshin shot through Sakura's head, very nearly causing her to loose her footing and fall flat on her face.

"Sakura! Are you sure you're alright?"

Sakura smiled the biggest, most innocent smile she could muster. "I'm fine Naruto, really. Just keep on going!"

_When had she developed such a dirty mind?_


	8. Love nest

"Naruto, on our 5 o'clock, about three quarters of a mile behind us." One of Sai's mice had spotted Kiba and Shino. "They should run into your Shadow Clones in under a minute."

"Ahh, got it." Naruto formed the same hand seal again, sending two more Shadow Clones to back up the two he'd created earlier. "That should slow them down."

_Five now. Great._ As if being around one Naruto wasn't hard enough already. He could create hundreds of Shadow Clones though. Thousands even. Thousands of Narutos. Now there was a distracting thought... He had plenty of stamina for the whole lot too.

_Thwack!_ A thin branch whipped across her face, smacking her back to reality just in time to avoid jumping right into a solid tree trunk. _Whoaw, what was that?_ She really needed to start getting her thoughts under control because they were getting totally out of hand. It wasn't even a matter of them being distracting any longer, she was starting to freak out about her own thoughts. She barely even recognized herself anymore.

All the while, Naruto just kept on looking at her with that annoyingly concerned look on his face. She couldn't stand him being so considerate of her right now; it just made her want him even more.

"Would you stop looking at me already," she snarled; "I told you I'm fine!" Naruto just responded by looking even more concerned. Damn him!

She thanked whatever gods were watching over her when Sai once again interrupted with a surveillance update. Thanks to Sai constantly keeping tabs on Kiba and Shino's location like that and Naruto sending Shadow Clones to those locations to slow them down, they managed to stay ahead of the two trackers for several more hours, though slowly but steadily they were loosing ground. It would only be a matter of time before they'd get caught.

"They're close. Everybody hide." Sai again. _So Kiba and Shino had finally caught up with them, huh?_ Sakura quickly scanned the surroundings for a good hiding place. There! A large hollowed out rock.

Unfortunately for her, it seemed that Naruto had come up with the same hiding place, tightly squeezing against her so they'd both fit in the small space under the overhang of the eroded rock.

"Couldn't you find your own hiding place," she hissed at Naruto as the churning in her stomach intensified once more; "this one's mine!"

"It's not like there's a whole lot of great hiding places around here," he whispered back. "Besides, I wanted to keep an eye on you. You're really hot."

Sakura's heart skipped a beat before she realized that Naruto hadn't been talking about the way she looked. With her heart going crazy she could only imagine how warm and flushed her skin had to be. The fool still thought she was sick or something. He really was cute, but why did he have to be so stupid? Still, it was really sweet of him to think about her like that.

Several minutes that felt a lot like months or even years to Sakura passed like that, with the two young shinobi sitting huddled under the the large rock, their bodies squeezed together. If this was going to last much longer, she was just going to reveal herself to the trackers pursuing them, because this was driving her crazy. Every fiber of her being wanted to just reach out, grab the boy sitting next to her and completely ravage him and was completely terrified of the idea at the same time. The end result was that her hands and her body twitched nervously as they alternated between starting to reach out and pulling back, frightened of what that would mean.

"And now you're shivering too." Naruto's voice echoed in her conflicted mind as he put his arms around her to keep her warm. _Too much_. Too much! Sakura's mind and muscles, finally agreeing on something, made ready to jump out of hiding just as a smug face with shaggy brown hair and two red fangs painted onto it popped over the edge of the overhang.

"Found you!" Kiba looked as cocky as always, his usual wolfish grin firmly plastered on his face. "Don't you two lovebirds look cozy together!"

Sakura's reaction was more than predictable. Blushing profusely, she quickly wormed her way out of Naruto's embrace, angrily shoving him aside just to erase any suggestion that she'd really, _really_ liked the way his arms had felt around her.

Having been found, the training session was finally over, although it took Kiba and Shino another 15 minutes to track down Sai, who had made an aerial escape. Without those two hunting them any longer however, Sakura's mind quickly returned to her absolute no. 1 most favorite subject of the last few days, prompting her to keep a ridiculously respectful distance from her cute teammate and to avoid looking at him as best she could. She didn't have a doubt that if she were to look at Naruto her feelings would be all over her face and she didn't need anybody to see that.

More specifically, she really didn't need Kiba to see that. Naruto would probably be too clueless to notice anything even if she was being embarassingly obvious and Shino would respect her privacy, but Kiba? God, she could just imagine the kind of mocking she'd have to endure already.

That wasn't going to happen though. As long as she just kept looking at her toes, she'd be fine. She wouldn't blush, she wouldn't sweat; nobody would find out. This was something she could do. Even if she was a terrible shinobi who failed completely at keeping her feelings hidden, she could do at least that much. She could stare at her toes. She had enough friggin' willpower to _not_ look at Naruto until after everybody had left. Yeah, she could do this.

"Oy, Sakura. Why do you keep blushing every time you look at Naruto? You're acting just like Hinata."

_Shit, shit, shit, shit!!!_


	9. Physical reactions

"What are you talking about? She's been flushed and sweaty all day. She's sick or something!" Naruto. Bless his stupidity. With a bit of luck Kiba would accept that explanation. Those two were rather alike after all.

Kiba, however, just looked from Naruto to Sakura and back again, an incredulous frown on his face.

"What are _you _talking about? She only gets all hot and bothered when she's looking at you, Naruto!"

Sakura crinched. Did he _have_ to use those words?

Kiba took a few big sniffs. "Besides, she doesn't smell sick. She smells of..."

Kiba was mercifully cut short by a punch to the shoulder delivered by his silent teammate. Sighing a big breath of relief, Sakura made a mental note to be sure to thank him for that later. Kiba glared at the bug user, whose only respons was to stoically ignore him, further enraging the hot-headed Inuzuka, distracting him for long enough to forget all about Sakura and Naruto. For the moment at least. He was sure to remember sooner or later and unfortunately, he wasn't the kind of person to give her an easy time about it. Sakura's heart sunk at the thought of it. Wonderful. Yet another thing to worry about.

She eyed Naruto. How much had he inferred from what Kiba had already said? Did he realize what it meant? Once again Sakura quietly blessed his stupidity though when she noticed he still had the same concerned look on his face, rather than looking puzzled or ridiculously happy. _The idiot still thought she was sick._ Well, if that was the case, she certainly wasn't going to do anything to change his mind about that. The second they entered the streets of Konoha she excused herself from the rest of the group, informing them that she was going to go straight home because she was feeling a little wiped out. The deeply worried look Naruto shot her upon hearing that was almost enough to make her heart break. He might be a stupid fool, but he was too damned sweet a fool.

Sakura ran back home as quickly as she could. The sooner she put some distance between herself and that loveable idiot, the better it would be. How much longer was she going to be able to keep this up though? She couldn't keep avoiding Naruto forever. Even if she managed to get herself transferred to another team (and she really, _really_ didn't want to do that), she'd still run into him and they'd likely still have missions together every so often. On top of that, it seemed everybody else was starting to notice. Was she really that easy to read? It embarrassed her to no end. If everybody could tell though, wasn't it about time she admitted it to herself?

Just to try it on, she let the idea roll around in her head a few times. Perhaps she really did love Naruto. _She loved Naruto_. Well, that wasn't so bad. She could at least say it to herself without it feeling all weird and horrible. She loved Naruto. _I. Love. Naruto_. It actually felt kind of nice, kind of right...

_I love you, Naruto._

Turning as white as a sheet, Sakura made a mad dash for the toilet and got rid of her lunch the wrong way. _No, not time yet._ Definitely not time yet.

As hard as she tried though, even with her remarkable powers of denial, she couldn't deny that literally getting sick with nerves thinking about, well, _that_ subject, _something_ had to be going on. People didn't react this way to people they didn't have very strong feelings for. That line of thought came too close to actually admitting she loved the blonde though, once more causing a bout of nausea, leaving Sakura to quickly clamp her hand over her mouth while desperately trying to suppress the sick feeling to her stomach. Funny, it seemed like Naruto ended up being right about her being sick after all, she though grimly. Sick in the head, that was...

She had to talk about someone about this, she thought as she walked over to the kitchen to grab something to eat, even though the continued rumbling in her stomach didn't leave her with much of an appetite. If she didn't eat though, it'd get even worse. Who could she talk to though? There was no way she could discuss such things with Tsunade-sama, it would just be too embarassing. Kakashi-sensei wasn't an option either, because that old pervert would just try to push the two of them together, even if she wasn't ready for that yet. Ino could probably understand her better than most of her other friends, if for no other reason than because she was a girl as well, but if Ino found out that she, that she had feelings for _Naruto_ of all people, she'd never hear the end of it.

Who did that leave? Rock Lee would probably help her if she asked, but he'd also be completely crushed that she chose Naruto over him. Also, she wasn't entirely convinced his idea of helping wouldn't consist of making her do 500 push-ups or some such to prove her, uhm, affection. She wasn't really close enough to anyone else to ask them for help with something like this either. _Great_. She'd just figured out that she couldn't figure this out on her own, but she also couldn't talk about it with anyone. How wonderful.

Stepping back into her room her heart almost jumped out of her chest and the bowl of hot soup she was carrying was send flying as she was startled by Kiba's sudden appearance sitting on her bed. She'd been so lost in thought she hadn't even sensed him. She braced herself for the worst as she looked at Kiba's face, grinning even more wolfish than usual.

"So, about earlier today..."


	10. Kiba nose

"You were getting all tingly inside thinking about Naruto, right? That's it, isn't it? You want to hold him and kiss him and make sweet love to him."

_Well, there goes_. Kiba wasn't one to pull punches unfortunately.

"I can't believe you're actually in love with that loudmouth idiot! I thought you had better taste than that. Now, if you were in love with me, I could understand that, but that Dead-Last? I didn't know you like to slum it."

Sakura just stared intently at her toes, afraid that she'd die of embarassment is she looked up at the Inuzuka boy. Why of all people did he have to be the one to find out about... about... about whatever feelings she had for Naruto? Not only was he never going to live this down, being just as big a loudmouth as he accused Naruto of being, she was sure the entire village would know by the next morning. Even without looking at Kiba she felt like she could drop dead of embarassment at the prospect.

"But, how did you know?"

Kiba reacted quasi-offended.

"Like it's hard to tell! Forget about you turning as red as a tomato every time you even so much as glance at the loudmouth idiot, you haven't forgotten about my nose have you? You stink of hormones. Worse even than when my mom and my sis are on their friggin' period together."

Sakura's whole body flushed as her mind was battling it out over whether to be more angry or embarassed over Kiba's ever so tactful remark. Embarassment ultimately won the battle. She subconsciously took a quick sniff of her armpits, although of course she couldn't smell anything more than the ordinary smell of sweat, of which there was more than a little.

Kiba stood up, facing Sakura, that stupid grin still plastered on his face, his eyes filled with mirth over making the poor girl squirm so much. Sakura cringed in anticipation of the next barrage of jibes and jokes. She'd never hear the end of this. Not in a million years. Much to her surprise however, Kiba's face and whole pose suddenly turned deadly serious.

"It's actually not really all that surprising you feel that way about him." Kiba said, not a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Or that's to say, it is, this is Naruto we're talking about after all, but it also isn't. I mean, it's kinda hard not to love the guy on some level. There's just something about him that makes you want to pin your hopes on him. I used to think he was just a joke and an idiot too, but now he's my best friend. Once you get to know him, you just can't help believing in him. And in yourself. There's just something about him that makes you want to believe that anything is possible, as long as you try hard enough."

Sakura didn't have to think hard about it to agree with the Inuzuka. It couldn't be denied that Naruto had an effect on everybody he met. Haku, Inari, Gaara, Yukie, the list went on... Sasuke too. He hadn't been able to stop their long lost teammate from leaving, but if the Uchiha was ever to come back, it would be because of Naruto. Wherever he went, Naruto seemed to carry the optimism, the kindness and the strong belief in the value of friendship that was so characteristic for him in his wake. She was no more immune to that than anyone else.

"For you though," Kiba continued; "it must be even harder not to love him. I'm just his friend and even though Naruto is the kind of guy who'd walk through fire for anyone he considers his friend, it doesn't compare to the kind of lenghts he'll go through for you. I don't think there's anything he wouldn't do to make you happy. He even made an impossible promise because he didn't want to see you hurting. Even after all these years he's still trying to make good on that promise too. He wants to bring Sasuke back for his own reasons of course, but part of it is also that he couldn't bear to disappoint you."

The Inuzuka paused briefly, staring off into space as if deeply in thought.

"He's crazy about you, you know that right?"

Sakura's heart skipped several beats. She'd known all along that Naruto cared for her deeply of course, but she didn't really know why or how. To her deep shame she had to admit she'd never really done anything to warrant the kind of devotion he'd shown her. The countless times he'd protected her, got beaten and broken for her sake... Had she thanked him for that even once? She couldn't remember. Tears welled up in her eyes.

She'd always assumed it was just because of that stupid crush he'd had on her since forever that Naruto did these things, but if she was really honest with herself, she had also always known that a simple crush didn't even begin to explain those kind of sacrifices. She always felt safe when Naruto was around, because she knew he'd never let anyone, or anything, hurt her. What had she ever done in return? Naruto was such a fool for thinking he could ever disappoint her. She was the one always disappointing him!

"Oy, don't cry! Please? I'm really not good with crying women."

Sakura wiped the tears from her eyes and had to smile despite of herself when she looked up at a very uncomfortable looking Kiba. He really did remind her of Naruto in many ways; it was hardly a wonder those two were best friends. They were both just as loud, just as hot-headed and just as boastful. They also both couldn't stand to see their friends hurt in any way. Who knew he could be this serious though? Maybe that meant there was still hope for Naruto as well. Sakura's smile widened.


	11. Truth time

"I'm... I'm sorry, you're right. A ninja shouldn't cry." Sakura smiled weakly as she wiped the tears from her eyes. For a moment, the two ninja's just sat there in the kunoichi's room in solemn silence, neither really knowing what to say or do next.

"I guess I did know," Sakura finally said softly; "though to be honest I don't really know why." Sakura stared at her fingers nervously tapping against each other, embarrased to realize just how ungrateful and unappreciative she had always been of Naruto. First she'd been too wrapped up in her schoolgirl crush on Sasuke to appreciate her other teammate, even though he was always the first to have her back even back then and later, after the Uchiha had left, she might have started to appreciate Naruto's skills and abilities, but she had still failed to really appreciate him as a person and as a friend because she was too busy being embarrased about her inability to keep up with him.

She had wanted to be able to take care of herself, to not have to depend on her teammate to protect her and get hurt for her all the time, but truth be told, that had more to do with her wanting to prove herself as a ninja and less with her concern for Naruto. Only now that she was starting to think about the blonde in _that_ way did those priorities begin to turn around in her mind. She'd never liked to see him get hurt of course; she didn't like any of her friends getting hurt, but now she had to admit that the idea of Naruto getting badly hurt, maybe even killed, was more than she was willing to conceive.

"He has always been there for me, even since before we were in the same team and all I did for much of that time was ignore him, reject him. All those times he took the hits to keep me from getting hurt, all those times he saved me, was there for me... I almost never thanked him for any of it, scorned him even." Sakura's face scrunched up into a deeply pained expression, thinking back on the conversation she'd had with Ino just a few days earlier, or with captain Yamato some time before that. "And to make things worse, I can't even repay him for all his sacrifices, for his kindness. Even with all the training I've been doing with Tsunade-sama, I can't take the Kyuubi out of him and I can't defeat Akatsuki for him. I don't deserve his affection."

"No, you don't." Kiba's words stung Sakura like a thousand needles. "At least, not as long as you keep acting like some whiny loser anyway. You have it all the same though, his affection, his love even, so the only question that remains is; what are you going to do about it?"

Sakura's shame deepened even further. It was bad enough that she'd been such an ungrateful, useless brat. Sitting around moping about it wasn't going to make anything the least bit better. Kiba was right, she had to stop whining and start doing something. The problem was that she still had no idea exactly what it was she should do. As much as she liked to act like she knew everything, this was new territory for her and all of her book smarts were proving completely inadequate for the situation.

"I... I don't know." She hated to admit this to the Inuzaka boy, but it was the only answer she could give. "What would you suggest?"

It occured to Sakura that this was turning into a very peculiar week indeed. First there was that weird conversation with Shion which got this whole rollercoaster started, then the odd obsessiveness with a boy she'd known for years and never really thought about all that much and know she was actually asking for advice from _Kiba _of all people; the only guy in Konoha who she had always thought of as being as clueless as the boy she'd been obsessing about.

"I know it might be a radical idea, but you could start by _not_ running off or nearly fainting like some scared little puppy every time you come close to him and _talk._"

"HEY! I did _not_ run off, I do _not_ faint and I'm not scared of anything!" Even as she said it, Sakura knew it wasn't exactly true, but even in all her shame and confusion there was only so much she was going to accept from that mutt _or_ his dog... "But... you're right of course. I have to talk to Naruto. I just don't know what to say. I don't even know what I feel..."

Kiba shifted his position on the bed, staring up at the ceiling and murmuring unintelligibly as if pondering what sage words to offer next. _Just how badly had she underestimated him?_ Sakura had never imagined the Inuzaka to have such depth or to be anywhere near as insightful as he had already shown himself to be over these last few minutes. What kind of profound wisdom was he going to come up with this time? If she could be so wrong about the dog handler, about Uzumaki Naruto, about _herself, _what else had she been blind to?

"Nah, I don't know either. I really don't know anything about such things." Kiba just laughed and shrugged his shoulders as he got up and walked to the window through which he had entered Sakura's room.

_Maybe not quite _that_ insightful after all..._

Just as he was stepping through the window however, he stopped and turned to face Sakura, his face once more deadly serious.

"How about you do the one thing you, by your own admission, haven't done enough and thank him at least?"

Before Sakura had a chance to respond, the Inuzaka took one more step out the window and disappeared into the now dark streets of Konoha.


	12. Best laid plans

_Thank him._ As if that was such an easy thing to do. The words might not be that difficult, but the meaning behind them might be the hardest thing she'd had to deal with in her short life. Accepting that she was physically attracted to Naruto had been difficult enough and she still didn't quite understand _how_ that suddenly happened, but comparatively, that had been the easy part; the part she was most willing to admit. Admitting that he had been far better to her than she'd been to him had been more difficult and for that reason alone apologizing and thanking him for as much would be hard enough.

Moreover though, mere words seemed insufficient to convey the kind of thanks she owed Naruto. Anything she could think of beyond words however involved a level of intimacy she wasn't sure she was ready to deal with just yet. Or ever, for that matter. If she was going to have any hope of finding out for sure if there was more between her and Naruto than mere physical attraction however, she would have to be open to such things, wouldn't she? _And it would all start with thanking him. _That would be the first step in defining just exactly how she felt about the loveable loudmouth.

That perhaps, would be the hardest part of all. Facing up to the possibility of being in love with the blue eyed blond. It was a scary proposition, just like love and intimacy always was, because it held such tremendous potential for getting hurt. Sasuke had proven that already and that, she had to admit, had just been a silly crush. It was especially scary though when it involved someone you never thought you could fall in love with, someone who seemed completely incompatible with you. Or when it involved someone who was the best friend you could ever hope for and trying for anything beyond that risked ruining it all.

Well before going to bed, Sakura already knew she was not going to get a lot of sleep that night. Imaginary conversations and hypotheticals kept running through her head as she tried to figure out what in the world to say and do next time she saw her teammate, her friend... Her lover?

_Thank him._ She rehearsed and rejected a million different ways to say the words. _Should she kiss him?_ Could she kiss him without doing something as unsightly as throwing up in the process? In the end, she couldn't decide on anything and even if she could have, she knew that whatever she'd think up now would fly from her head the moment she actually saw Naruto. She needed to just give it a rest and get some sleep; think about it again in the morning, which would hopefully bring some clarity. Of course, that too was easier said than done.

By the time Sakura finally fell asleep from pure exhaustion, the first rays of the sun were already creeping over the horizon. Almost immediately after, or so it seemed, the alarm clock started buzzing it's excruciatingly loud and annoying sound. _How long had she slept?_ It felt like it had been maybe one minute, though a quick glance at the infernal object that had awakened her from her slumbers told her that it had in fact been a little over an hour since she last saw the time. Either way, it had been way, WAY too short.

If there was one good thing about that day though, it would have to be that it was their day off. No training, no missions... No Naruto, with a little bit of luck. She needed more time to think. She needed more time to hide from this huge thing looming over her. _God, when had she become such a coward? _She knew she had been weak compared to Sasuke and, later on, compared to Naruto, but she'd never been a coward before, had she?

No, no, it wasn't cowardice. Well, maybe a little bit, but it was also her desire to do this right. Even if it turned out there wasn't really anything between them, even if this would just be about thanking Naruto for being there for her and showing him that she really did appreciate it, _does_ appreciate _him_, this would be important and she had to do it right. If that meant avoiding the boy a day longer in order to puzzle together exactly what that meant, so be it.

Yes, she could accept that. Somewhat reassured and feeling comfortable about her decision to resort to escapism, she got out of bed, tempting as it was to try and get a little more sleep. There were things to be done though and, most importantly, things to be thought about. Heading into the kitchen she put up a kettle of water to make some tea and made herself a light breakfast. For now, she would just take the time to unwind, clear her head. She'd think about just exactly what she would say to Naruto, just exactly what she would do, in the afternoon, so she'd be ready to face him and talk to him the day after.

Unfortunately for her, such things rarely went the way you wanted them to...

Unbeknownst to Sakura, a familiar figure was making his way to her doorstep, wearing a concerned frown on his kind and normally smiling face and so, even as Sakura was still making her plans in her kitchen, they were already falling apart. It didn't take long for the figure to make his way across town, through streets he knew like the back of his hand to a doorway he'd been to many times before. While Sakura was still eating her breakfast and before the water she'd put on the stove even had a chance to boil, there was a knock on the door and a familiar voice she loved to hear any day but today started calling out to her.

"Sakura? Sakura? Are you there? I just wanted to make sure you were alright, since you didn't seem to be feeling too well yesterday."

Naruto. _Damn him!_


	13. Ramen and ruminations

_Damn him, damn him, damn him! _It seemed that leaving Naruto with the illusion that she hadn't been feeling well yesterday, wasn't such a great idea after all. _Why did that boy have to be so damned considerate!_

For a brief moment, Sakura actually considered just hiding in some corner of her room, staying quiet and waiting for Naruto to leave. The idea was tempting, especially considering the fact that she wasn't prepared to deal with him at all just yet. Pretty much as soon as the thought had formed in her head however, she also realized that resorting to such extremes would be more than a little pathetic and completely ridiculous. Still, she couldn't exactly say she was particularly eager to face the blonde and she took her sweet time getting over to the door.

When Sakura opened it at long last, she looked straight into the frowning face of her teammate, which only grew more concerned upon seeing her.

"Wow, Sakura, you look terrible."

Sakura could feel the anger welling up in her. She'd spend all night trying to think of the best way to thank him and apologize to him for not doing so sooner and _that_ was the first thing he was going to say to her? Then she realized that Naruto couldn't know that and what she had to look like. She was still in her pajamas, she hadn't showered or combed her hair yet and most likely, she had huge bags under her eyes from lack of sleep. Sakura suddenly felt very self-conscious. How could she let Naruto see her like that?

_Why shouldn't she let Naruto see her like that?_ It wasn't like this was the first time they'd seen each other in a similar state; exhausted, injured, bloody and/or dirty, it all came with the terrain of being a ninja. For some reason though, it suddenly bugged the hell out of her that the boy was seeing her at considerably less than her best.

"I'm fine Naruto. I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I've been up most of the night, thinking."

That was as good an excuse as any for the way she looked and it had the added benefit of being the truth.

"Thinking? Thinking about what?"

_About you._

"About..." Sakura sighed. _I guess this is as good a time as any._ "About how I feel about... About the way I treated you."

Sakura could tell her friend was about to object to that statement, but she shushed him before he got a chance to speak up.

"No, Naruto. Please, just let me say what I have to say." She sighed deeply and started to twiddle her thumbs nervously. She had to do this right, even though she still didn't have a clue what that meant.

"You have always been there for me, since we were still in the academy together. You've been stabbed, beaten, battered and broken for me and you never asked me for anything in return and to my shame, I never offered. Most of the times I didn't even thank you for all you did for me. Sometimes I even scolded you for it, or got angry at you for getting in the way. That wasn't right. I was too wrapped up with Sasuke at first and how you were just standing between him and me and later, I was just too wrapped up with myself, period, to acknowledge the kind of sacrifices you've made for me. I should have told you much sooner, but I just wanted you to know that I really do appreciate it, so, uhm... Thank you. Really."

Naruto just stared at her with that stupified look on his face she had seen quite a few times before, completely stunned by this sudden outpouring of gratitude and appreciation. Not because he didn't know she appreciated him, but because he'd never expected her to actually say as much, nor needed her to, for that matter.

"Uhm, thanks Sakura-san, it means a lot to hear you say that, but... I already knew that. You really didn't have to say it."

"Yes, yes I did. Maybe you did already know, though if you did, I'm not sure how you knew, because I know I haven't been showing it and I should have. I've been taking you for granted since day one, Naruto, and that isn't fair towards you. You've done too much for me, for Sasuke, for Konoha to deserve that. All you ever wanted since, forever, was for people to acknowledge you, so I'm acknowledging you, here and now. I acknowledge how important you are. To uhm, Konoha."

Before reason (ok, fear) had a chance to interfere, Sakura decided to go by her first impuls and gave her teammate a quick peck on the cheek, causing both him and her to turn cherry red. _And to me._

It was hard to tell which of the two ninja's felt more awkward as they stood there in silence staring at their respective toes for a minute or so, which felt more like a day to both Sakura and Naruto.

"Well, uhm, thank you Sakura. Really. I guess if you're alright, I should probably go now. I'll uhm, see you later."

Sakura just nodded, incapable of saying anything due to the great big lump that had been forming in her throat. Before she could close the door on him though, Naruto stopped and turned around again.

"Would you... Would you maybe like to go get some ramen later? With me, I mean..."

Sakura nodded again, still working down the lump in her throat.

"Sure," she finally managed to croak hoarsely. _It's a date_. "I'll see you there than."

This time it was Naruto's turn to nod. The two of them had eaten ramen together many times before of course, but even as clueless as he tended to be, the fact that something _different_ was going on here did not escape him. As he walked away without so much as another word, a single subconscious tear ran down his cheek.


	14. Dressing up, dumbing down

_Ok, so she back-pedalled just a bit again and only told him she appreciated everything he'd done for her and not that maybe, just maybe, she might be the tiniest bit, you know, crazy about him._ It was a start, wasn't it? What exactly did you expect? A flowery declaration of eternal love? There was no way she was ready for that! At least she did thank him and at least she did agree to go on a date with him.

_A date?_ It suddenly dawned on Sakura that was exactly what she was going to have with Naruto that evening; their first official date. _Or was it?_ It certainly felt like a date to her, but she wasn't entirely sure Naruto was aware that their planned dinner date was to be an actual _date _date. Could something count as a date if one of the people involved in it didn't know it was one? She should have been more clear about this. If Naruto didn't realize their plans for later that day constituted a date, she'd look completely stupid if she showed up there thinking it was, but if he did figure as much...

What in the hell was she going to wear? She didn't have anything appropriate to wear to a first-date-that-might-not-actually-be-a-date. She couldn't just show up in her normal streetclothes in case it _was_ a proper date, but she couldn't dress up too much either, in case it turned out Naruto was being clueless again. On the other hand, considering the dishevelled state in which Naruto had found her just now, she did want to look good for him the next time they saw each other. It was all so confusing!

For a moment she wished she could just call Ino and ask her to come over to help her pick out her clothes and do her hair, just like they used to do long ago. As much as things had been getting better between the two of the though, such a trip down memory lane might still be a little awkward. It would also require her to explain too much. Ino would no doubt want to know exactly who it was she was dressing up for and Sakura really didn't feel like sharing that information with any more people. It was bad enough that Kiba already knew for sure that she had feelings for Naruto, whatever the hell they'd prove to be exactly. Shino and captain Yamato probably figured it out as well. After all, they were both considerably cleverer than dog-boy. She didn't need any more people to know before she even knew for sure what her feelings were or before the subject of those feelings knew anything about them at all.

Could she really hope for that much though? If her feelings were apparently that easy to read? If that many people already knew? If rumours had a tendency to spread like wildfire? She felt confident she could trust captain Yamato not to tell anyone and Shino barely ever talked, period. Could she say the same about Kiba though? It was true that he had been surprisingly kind and decent about the whole affair earlier, but he was also possibly the only ninja in Konoha with an even bigger mouth than Naruto himself. Even if he did keep his mouth shut, there was no telling if others hadn't picked up on something already as well and wouldn't be so kind as not to gossip. _God, this was turning into a nightmare!_

No, she wouldn't tell anyone else. At least not before she somehow managed to convey her confused and confusing jumble of feeling for Naruto _to_ Naruto. Even if the cat really was already out of the bag and rumours were already spreading, she wouldn't confirm them until she'd done at least that; it was the right thing to do. It did however leave her on her own in trying to figure out what to wear and how to behave on this date that might not be a date. She could possibly ask one of the other girls from the Konoha 11, one who wouldn't be too inquisitive, to help her with her outfit and her hair at least, but the most difficult part, the part about figuring out just what to do and say around her cute teammate would still be up to her.

Besides, who else was she going to ask? Hinata was out of the question for multiple reasons. For one, even after all these years, she didn't really know the girl all that well and secondly, she couldn't in good conscience ask the girl who'd had a crush on Naruto since their academy days to help her prepare for a date with that very blue-eyed blond, even if she wouldn't know that was what she was doing. Which only left Tenten. Sakura liked the girl from team Gai well enough, but asking her to help out with girly things like clothes and hairdos seemed counterproductive; Tenten never left the impression on Sakura that she cared about such things at all. At times, Sakura admired the weapons specialist for that kind of confidence to belief you are good enough the way you are without feeling the need to dress up or anything. At other times, she desperately wanted to give the unassuming girl a makeover. It seemed like she was going to have to do everything herself after all.

_Why did everything having to do with boys and dating have to be so hard?_ She had been able to pick out her own clothing and do her own hair for... For as long as she could remember, actually. Why did it suddenly become so damned complicated? Lately it seemed like anything that even remotely had to do with that stupid, gorgeous, obnoxious, sweet loudmouth of a Naruto completely turned her mind to mush and made her incapable of doing things even a toddler could do. It was ridiculous! She really needed to get a grip on herself. Especially considering the fact that the hard part hadn't even begun yet.


End file.
